1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary press in which a feeder unit and a printing unit are vertically arranged, and a feeder unit for such a rotary press.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A prior art rotary press in which a feeder unit and a printing unit are vertically arranged has construction shown in, for example, "Handbook of Printing Engineering", first edition, second impression (Jul. 20, 1983, published by the Gihodo Publishing Co., Ltd.), page 887, FIGS. 5 and 11, page 889, FIGS. 5 and 13, and it is known well in, especially, the newspaper publishing field.
In this rotary press, a feeder unit 51 and a printing unit 52 are arranged in parallel with each other, i.e., the axes of the paper rolls 55 provided in the feeder unit 51 and those of the printing cylinders 54 constituting a printing means 53 in the printing unit 52 extend in parallel with one another as shown in FIG. 10, and a paper web 56 drawn out from a paper roll 55 is guided by a guide surface of a web guide 57, the axis of which extend in parallel with those of the printing cylinders 54, in such a manner that the paper web 56 reaches the printing means 53.
In order to supply a paper roll 55 to a feeder unit 51, every other space between two adjacent feeder units 51, 51 is widened enough to admit a paper roll thereinto, and a paper roll 55 introduced into this widely secured region is supplied selectively to one of two feeder units 51, 51 disposed on both sides of this region. A regular operation for handling the paper roll 55 is also carried out in the same region.
In a feeder unit 51, a rotary shaft 59 is provided on two columnar frames 58, 58, and paper rolls 55 are held between arms 60, 60 provided on this rotary shaft 59 as shown in FIG. 11. The distance between these two columnar frames 58, 58 is set longer than that between frames 61, 61 of the printing unit 52 by a distance required by additionally provided arms 60, 60. Another reason for setting the distance between these frames 58, 58 longer than that of the frames 61, 61 of the printing unit 52 resides in the necessity of providing a means 62 for turning the arms 60 via the rotary shaft 59, and a means 63 for moving the arms 60, 60 via the rotary shaft 59 in the axial direction thereof while keeping the distance between the arms 60, 60 unchanged, so as to adjust a widthwise deviation of the paper rolls 55 held between the arms 60 and that of the paper webs 56 drawn out therefrom with respect to the printing cylinder 54.
In recent years, a tower type printing unit, in which a plurality of printing means 53 are stacked up, shown in, for example, "Ifra Newspaper Techniques", English edition, April 1988 (published by the INCA-FIEJ Research Association), pages 64-73, has been provided.
In this tower type printing unit 64, the printing can be done on at least one surface of a single paper web 56 with a plurality of colors of ink by a plurality of printing means 53 as shown in, for example, FIGS. 8 and 9. It is known that passing a plurality of paper webs 56, 56, for example, two paper webs 56, 56 through different printing means 53 in the tower type printing unit 64 and printing images on at least one surface of each of the paper webs 56, 56 with not less than one color of ink as shown in FIG. 8 are possible. It is known that this enables the number of color printed pages of, for example, newspaper to be increased, and the variation of color printing techniques and the variation of arrangement of color printed pages to be increased.
A path along which the paper webs 56 in FIG. 8 reaches a folder unit 65 via the printing units 52 is substantially identical with that shown in FIG. 10, and an illustration thereof is omitted.
These prior art rotary presses have the following problems to be solved. (1) Since a regular operation for handling paper rolls in the feeder units including an operation for supplying paper rolls to the feeder units is carried out between the feeder units, it is necessary that the distance between the positions of installation of the feeder units be suitably secured. Consequently, a arrangement of feeder units becomes longer than that of printing units, so that the arrangement of feeder units cannot be included within the space just below that of printing units.
(2) In order to printing images on a plurality of paper webs by a tower type printing unit, a plurality of feeder units per printing unit are required. Consequently, a arrangement of feeder units becomes far longer than that of printing units, and useless spaces occur in the arrangement of printing units and above the same arrangement in terms of installation of the rotary press.
(3) In order to adjust a widthwise deviation of a paper web drawn out from a paper roll held in a feeder unit, with respect to the relative printing means, it is necessary that the arms on which the paper roll is held be moved with a rotary shaft which supports the arms. This causes the dimensions of the feeder unit to increase, and a large driving force to be required.
Accordingly, a space-saving rotary press in which a arrangement of feeder units does not become longer than that of printing units has been demanded. Regarding, especially, a rotary press provided with tower type printing units, a space-saving rotary press capable of supplying a plurality of paper webs to the tower type printing units has been demanded. In connection with the matter, devising a space-saving method for the feeder units in a rotary press has been demanded.